In the comments on our editorial about language purism and the Psystar case, it became quite clear that language is a subject almost everyone has an opinion on - not odd if you consider that language is at the very centre of what makes us "human". Since this appears to be a popular subject, let's talk about the influence computing has had on two very minor aspects of the Dutch language.

Yup, and no encyclopaedia, no historian, and neither the church themselves deny this fact. It’s basically a commercial holiday that even the church acknowledges since it will at least get them some attention. Nobody even cared what Jesus’ birthday was up until the second century when paganism spread into Christianity. (The idea of a birthday being significant is a Roman idea, based on their gods and beliefs)